Long Beach Head Coach Williams Excited for Porter's Arrival
By Bailey Mott
June 13, 2015
"We don't get into the transfers and whatnot so you kind of know what you've got for players coming in." Long Beach head football coach Forrest Williams said Friday night.
"To get a player like him joining the team could be a big boost."
Williams is referring to D.J. Porter who recently moved to Long Beach from Fort Lauderdale, Florida where Porter was a running back for national powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas.
"He's got 'Florida speed'." Williams added.
While Porter was not a big part of the offense for the Raiders he is still a very talented player sho should provide a big boost to a Long Beach team that only won two games last season in Williams' first year as head coach.
The Bearcats went 0-10 under Bo Vonderbruegge in 2013 and went 1-9 under Tommy Browser in 2012.
As for Porter, he was the leading rushing on St. Thomas Aquinas' JV team in 2013 and was projected to be a big part of the ground attack in 2014 before being supplanted by newcomer Jordan Scarlet. Porter finished the season with just eight carries and two receptions and was suspended at the end of the season after an incident at practice.
Porter says he's looking forward to a clean slate and an opportunity to help Long Beach improve.
"It's exciting in some ways for sure." He told me over the phone. "Like at St. Tom's we were in that national scene and that was awesome but the way things went last season..." Porter trailed off.
"I'm just ready for a fresh start."
Porter almost exclusively played RB at St. Thomas Aquinas but Williams says he could be used in a number of ways at Long Beach.
"We're going to try to get him involved in a bunch of ways. We've been dreaming some things up for sure."
Porter says he has spoken with some division two and three colleges and some junior colleges about continuing his football career after college but is hopeful that a big season in Long Beach will help him to earn some additional opportunities.
Long Beach starts their season on August 21st against Biloxi. Their preseason training program starts in a couple weeks.